New White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre was delivering her third on-camera goodbye to a departing staffer in less than 24 hours when she quipped to reporters, “I promise we will have a press shop.” She added: “Not everyone is leaving.”
FILE - White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, on May 26, 2022. Not even the White House is immune from the economic trend known as the"great resignation as employers struggle to fill vacancies and workers jump to new jobs at record rates. The Biden administration is undergoing a period of unusually high staff turnover as President Joe Biden nears his 18-month mark in office.
Still, the turnover, particularly within senior ranks, pales in comparison to the turbulent first year of President Donald Trump, who hired and dismissed staff at a record pace. Also, the Biden White House staffing was more stable than many predecessors in its earliest days, making the recent and upcoming exits more noticeable.
Many of the departing aides are heading to federal agencies, which have far deeper pockets than the smaller Executive Office of the President. They can often double their salary and substantially reduce their workload.In many ways the departures echo a broader trend in the economy — which the Biden White House has championed — where a historically tight labor market has given workers abnormal leverage to seek stronger-paying jobs that are more compatible with their post-pandemic lifestyles.
“It’s a worker’s market right now," then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last year, months before leaving herself for a role at the news outlet MSNBC. “We know that. People are looking for more dependable benefits. They’re looking for wages that are higher."The White House has bristled at the term “great resignation" and has tried to reframe it as what Bharat Ramamurti, the deputy director of the National Economic Council, calls the “great upgrade.
“White House salaries tend to be well below the salaries that people have before they come into the White House,” said Kevin Hassett, former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Trump administration. “This follows naturally from the fact that a president can choose people who are at the top of their professions. So when people return to their outside profession, the salary likely increases for almost everybody.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Enormous great white shark tracked just off Florida's Indian river lagoonThe huge shark, which weighs almost 1,500lbs and measures over 13 feet, pinged on OCEARCH's shark tracker late last night.
Read more »
Matthew McConaughey addresses Uvalde school shooting at White House press briefingUvalde native Matthew McConaughey addressed the Robb Elementary School shooting at today’s White House press briefing. Watch his entire speech here:
Read more »
Matthew McConaughey urges gun reform at White House press briefingAcademy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey delivered a fiery, emotional speech on gun control at the White House press briefing on Tuesday, sharing stories of the children who died in a mass shooting last month in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas.
Read more »
Matthew McConaughey to address gun reform at White House press briefingNEW: After lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, a native of Uvalde, Texas, is scheduled to speak at the White House press briefing this afternoon.
Read more »